A favor to MacBook Pro users

me | 3/2/08 | Chris DeWeese

[Chris DeWeese]

The battery in a MacBook Pro is only good for about a year. If you have a MacBook Pro, get the battery replaced in the 11th month or you will have to shell out $150.

Symptom, power meter says 25% left and computer shuts down. Will not turn on again until you plug it in.

[Chris DeWeese]

please ping the list.

[newheart]

I’ve owned four Macbook Pros and one Macbook. Had to replace one battery in the Macbook. None in the Pros.

[Swordmaker]

A Warning from a fellow FReeper for Mac Book Pro owners... PING!

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[Swordmaker]

Chris, I pinged the list as requested but I am not sure your problem is general. I have had a MacBook Pro for over a year with no problems with the battery. Mine holds 100% for about three hours with constant WiFi internet access. Could be you had a defective battery.

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

If you’re advocating lying to Apple when your battery is not yet kaput—and that’s how I read this—I strenuously object.

[Spktyr]

Sounds like you might need to recalibrate the battery or reset your Power Manager.

The MBPs I support are now 2 years old and still on the original battery. My old PB G4/500 is now 8 years old and still on its original (though much reduced in capacity) battery.

[svcw]

I have a mac power book, years old and never replaced the battery. I also have one thats only a year old and no problems.
There may be other issues going on with your mac.

[ccmay]

I just went through this. There is a battery replacement program if your MB or MBP was bought before April 2007. Just last week, I was able to get the Apple store to replace my battery even though it's no longer under warranty or AppleCare. I had to take my complaint from the Genius Bar to the store manager, but in the end I was successful.

Your battery should retain 80% of its rated capacity at 300 charge/discharge cycles. This is Apple's published specification, so if necessary, you need to remind them that they are obligated to deliver such a battery to you, or they will be guilty of fraud and false advertising.

To see what your battery is doing, run "About This Mac" from the Apple menu, select the "More Info..." button, then go to the "Power" section. The rated capacity for Macbook and Macbook Pro batteries is 5400 mAh. Mine was barely making 3000 mAh at full charge after only 250 cycles.

You can read more about this at the following Apple document. See especially the fifth paragraph where it explicitly states that the replacement can be made even if you are out of warranty and don't have AppleCare.

MacBook and MacBook Pro Battery Update 1.2

Also read this report:

Macbook: Battery

-ccm

[Chris DeWeese]

I checked before I posted. I'm not alone. The battery used to last for an incredibly long time, it does not anymore.

[Chris DeWeese]

Thanks for the very good info. (instead of the rest of the deny, deny, posts) Here's what turned up: Battery Information:

Battery Installed: Yes
First low level warning: No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 2197
Remaining Capacity (mAh): 2197
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12417
Cycle Count: 113

[Chris DeWeese]

If you’re advocating lying to Apple when your battery is not yet kaput—and that’s how I read this—I strenuously object.

I want to help everyone on the ping lest except this guy. You, sir, are on your own.

[publiusF27]

I had a problem with my PB G4 when it was just under a year old, and Apple replaced battery and main board. It has been about a year and a half now, and mine still holds a good charge.

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

"I want to help everyone on the ping lest except this guy. You, sir, are on your own."

Oh, but I wanna play too! Why stop with the battery? There are other things that wear out in even "Mack"book Pros. The hard disk, for example. The display backlight. Hey, the power supply brick doesn't last forever either. So let me be real helpful: When Month 11 comes along, issue a claim to Apple that not only cites the battery symptoms this thread helpfully clued us to, but also "hard disk errors," "intermittent charging" and "backlight is getting dim." Hey, if you play your cards right you might get a whole new computer! Who cares if none of those things are true? Steve Jobs has enough money!

[/sarc]

Really, this is a disgusting thread. Shame on you. If a warranted part dies in the warranty period, great, make a claim. But don't fake it. That's just wrong, and this thread is the sort of "advice" I expect to find on DU, not FR.

[BlazingArizona]

My advice: make sure you have AppleCare for any laptop.

[spower]

Interestingly enough I just replaced my MacBook Pro battery. Bought the machine in April 2006; Battery was replaced once under the recall. That battery started going south about six months ago. I tried “recalibrating” as mentioned in support docs to no avail. In the end I was getting around 9 minutes before the machine would just shut off.

These are Sony batteries? Co-workers who use Sony laptops get the same general battery life - 1 to 1.5 years.

My brand new battery is getting 2.5 hours or so but I have not cycled it enough to see max capacity.

[Chris DeWeese]

Look, dude. The point is that if there is a hint of a problem with your battery, then don’t put off replacing it. You’ve read malevolence into an innocent post. My battery started going out in the warranty period, but I didn’t notice. Now I have to go to the Apple store and beg like a serf when I could have had this taken care of a whopping month ago.

[Question_Assumptions]

I was wondering about that and it looks a lot worse than the last time I checked:

Battery Information:

Battery Installed:	Yes
First low level warning:	No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh):	3638
Remaining Capacity (mAh):	3638
Amperage (mA):	134
Voltage (mV):	12593
Cycle Count:	11

Yes, the 11 cycles is correct, mostly from the power connecter accidentally getting pulled out because I normally use it like a desktop.

[JRios1968]

Gee, I have never had to replace a battery on my Windows laptop...must be because of that lower quality

[metmom]

ping

[IncPen]

ping

[Chris DeWeese]

Gee, I have never had to replace a battery on my Windows laptop...must be because of that lower quality

It depends on the manufacturer. My HP is 5 years old and the battery is just fine. My employer provided Dell is less than 2 years old and is on its second battery and second power supply. There was a recent recall of thousands of batteries for Windows based laptops.

[rom]

I’ve had my MacBook Pro for a year now. I haven’t had any problems. A coworker has had his for 18 months. No problems either. So... maybe you got a defective battery?

What is legit is to get the extended AppleCare at the 11th month. That way you have some peace of mind without trying to commit fraud.

[Chris DeWeese]

Follow the link in post 10. This is a known problem that has affected thousands of people. Check your MBP's power data and I bet you are due a new battery, too.

So, here I am posting with my real name and a link to my church in the tag line and everyone assumes the worst. Good grief, people, you make it real hard to try to do you a favor.

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

"The point is that if there is a hint of a problem with your battery, then don’t put off replacing it."

Thanks for the clarification. I have no argument with that.

[rom]

Thanks for the clarification, you have to admit the original wording of your post was a little vague. People have advocated fraud such as what some of us read into your post before, and it maddens me.

I apologize :)

Here is my laptop’s information FYI.
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 5236
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 5980
Health Information:
Cycle count: 205
Battery health: Good

My battery seems fine. I’ll check my coworker’s a little later today.

[Chris DeWeese]

Thanks a bunch. Without the link you provided, I would have been out of luck. My MBP is exactly 12 days out of warranty and the genius-guy made it clear they were doing me a favor.

I support high tech equipment for a living and treat my customers much better than I was treated today. All in all, thought I got my battery replaced and live is good.

[ccmay]

A pleasure to help out a brother FReeper.

-ccm